First debuting over Christmas weekend, this Alien: Covenant trailer is anything but merry and bright.
The terror of Alien returns
We don’t know too much about this new Alien film, other than that Alien: Covenant is a sequel to Prometheus. And that it’s also the first return to more traditional xenomorph horror for director Ridley Scott in a good long time.
That previous film (and I assume this one too) heavily set up the backstory that’s been percolating for so long. The main baddies from the Alien films have been ever-mysterious after all, just like the ‘Engineers’ were. We got a whole bunch of answers on the latter in Prometheus, though that film left fans somewhat wanting.
From the early look here, Alien: Covenant should give ’em just what they’re looking for. And by that, I mean actual xenos, and a human crew just begging to be picked off. Still though, amidst the familiar, Covenant expands the mythos once again, sprinkling in things like ‘back-bursters’. It remains to be seen how these new elements will be received.
It also remains to be seen what’s happening with director Neil Blomkamp’s Alien film. That movie, which got pretty far into pre-production if I remember correctly, reset the timeline to pre-Alien 3. Effectively, it would have erased the third Alien movie, and given fans the original Ripley back, along with favorites like Newt and Colonial Marine Hicks. Since Covenant was announced though, it’s been in stasis.
Personally, I was looking forward more to it, than I am to Covenant even now. I will add though, that this flick does look pretty nifty, and I like that it seems to be sticking closer to the source than Prometheus did. Fingers crossed I guess.
Alien: Covenant hits theaters on May 19th.